Senators question student body president’s vetoes

Hannah Love vetoes three pieces of legislation that Student Senate passed on March 12

The vetoed legislation concerns Gmail technology, a sustainability fee and the Multiculural Education Fund Board.

By Brenna Hawley (Contact)

Monday, March 31st, 2008

Student body president Hannah Love vetoed three pieces of legislation last week.

The vetoes are causing controversy with some senators because they say she is no longer representing the interests of students.

Student Senate passed the legislation at the March 12 meeting, while Love was in Washington, D.C. on a Student Legislation Awareness Board trip.

The three pieces of legislation that Love vetoed are: a resolution asking KU Information Technology to consider bringing Gmail to KU e-mail, a bill that would create a sustainability student fee and a bill that would give the Student Senate Executive Committee veto power over the Multicultural Education Fund Board.

Gmail Technology

The Gmail resolution required two-thirds of Senate to pass. It passed in full Senate 34-8, which is six more votes than necessary. The resolution had no negative speeches when it went through committees or full Senate.

The Gmail resolution stemmed from an initiative by Senate coalition ConnectKU. Love said she vetoed it because it brought party politics into Student Senate.

“My responsibility as student body president is to keep Senate non-partisan,” Love said.

Jarrod Morgenstern, Overland Park senior and journalism senator, was involved in creating the ConnectKU initiative to bring Gmail technology to the University.

He said that in his two years of experience in Senate, when Senate put its name on a resolution asking a University organization to do something, the chances of it happening increased.

Morgenstern said that because Love was vetoing a resolution that so many senators voted in favor of, Love was no longer representing the best interests of students.

“She thinks that she’s smarter than the other 34 people who voted for it,” Morgenstern said.

Morgenstern said he planned to override Love’s veto. He also said the veto signified her opposition to Gmail for students. A veto takes two-thirds of Senate to override.

Sustainability Fee

Love also vetoed a change to the distribution of student fees.

In 2007, the student body voted for a referendum to pay $1.50 per semester to a sustainability fund for the campus. The vote did not increase fees but moved the $1.50 from already existing fees.

The bill that passed through Senate on March 12 by a 29-12 vote took $.25 from the Women’s and Non-Revenue Sports’ fee, which costs students $40 per semester, and put it toward the sustainability fund.

Love said she vetoed it because there were other student fees that could handle cuts and the money shouldn’t come from the athletics fee.

Multicultural Education Fund

The Multicultural Education Fund bill, which passed on March 12 by a 40-12 vote, proposed that StudEx have oversight over the board. Currently, there is no oversight on how the Multicultural Education Fund Board spends money. Students pay $1.50 per semester to the Multicultural Education Fund, which amounts to about $75,000. The fund, which is in its first year of existence, has caused controversy in Senate meetings about which groups qualify as multicultural. The fund is not governed by regular Senate regulations.

Love said no other board that distributes fee money has an oversight process and ordering one on the Multicultural Education Fund Board would be discriminatory. In her veto statement, which she sent out over the Student Senate list server, she said she was disappointed in the treatment of the bill.

“I am receiving the impression from this body that these guidelines, passed by the student body, are wrong,” Love wrote. “This is not a students of color fund, This fee is no different than many of the other fees. A board is appointed that Student Senate entrusts with the funds. The system is not broken, and it does not need adjustment. This fee has been through the same processes, appeals, and scrutiny as all the other student senate fees.”

Adam McGonigle, Wichita sophomore and United Students presidential candidate, said he thought it was unfortunate that three pieces of legislation were vetoed at once.

“If elected, I would work with people I agree with and people I don’t, so we never get to that stage,” McGonigle said.

McGonigle is also the current StudEx chair.

Austin Kelly, Lawrence junior and ConnectKU presidential candidate, said all three vetoes were a little different. He said that if Love felt strongly about the MEF and sustainability vetoes, then it was her right to veto them.

Kelly said he thought the Gmail veto was inappropriate. He said every issue was partisan because every student body president ran a campaign and tried to get platform issues accomplished once elected. He said who got credit for an idea was not what Senate was about.

“I want a student body president to embrace what is good for students regardless of who thought of it,” Kelly said.

Senate rules give the student body president the power to veto legislation, but that power is not used often.

In the five years before Love was in office, only one student body president used veto power. Steve Munch, student body president from 2004 to 2005, vetoed two bills. Nothing since then had been vetoed until Love entered office and vetoed a bill regarding the use of electronic voting devices, or “clickers,” during summer 2007.

Full Senate meets Wednesday at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics. If it is going to, Senate would probably have to overturn Love’s vetoes at this meeting because Senate typically does not discuss legislation after Senate elections. Elections this year are April 9 and 10.

— Edited by Katherine Loeck

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